Evan Penny, ‘Self Portrait Stretched,’ $68,200. Image courtesy of Rago Arts and Auction Center.
Of the 400 lots offered, 81 percent sold, with 652 bidders competing.
We saw strong prices for a wide variety of fine art,” said Meredith Hilferty, who directs Rago’s Fine Art department. “We expected the market to continue to be strong for postwar and contemporary work, but Saturday’s sale also showed a rebound for the Pennsylvania Impressionists. Many of them topped the high estimate and nearly everything by a Pennsylvania artist was snatched up.”
The auction opened with the top lot in the 19th and 20th Century American and European Art session: 19 lithographs on vellum from Leonard Tsugoharu Foujita’s A Book of Cats, 1930, which sold for $33,480.
James Abbot McNeill Whistler’s etching titled Little Black Dress, 1873, was runner-up at $27,280.
Rounding out the top 10 finishers in the 19th and 20 Century Art session were Lot 94, Kees Verkade, Total Balance, 1984, bronze on wood base, $27,280; Lot 52, William Langson Lathrop, Indian Summer, oil on canvas (framed), $13,640; Lot 91, Jean Jansem, Femme Endormie, oil on paper laid on canvas, $11,780; Lot 23, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, La Danse a la Campagne, circa 1890, soft ground etching (framed), $8,680; Lot 38, Martin Lewis, Tree, Manhattan, 1930, drypoint, $8,680; Lot 59, Robert Alexander Darrah Miller, two works of art: Lambertville, oil on canvasboard, $8,680; Lot 99, Robert R. Bliss, Study for Martyrdom 1, 1963, oil on Masonite, $7,440; and Lot 83, Werner Drewes, The Flower Bouquet III, 1950, oil on canvas, $6,200.
The 19th and 20th Century Art session totaled $331,167, inclusive of the buyer’s premium.
The Postwar and Contemporary Art session totled $967,324 inclusive of the premium.
Topping that session was Lot 748, Evan Penny’s Self Portrait Stretched, 2003, silicone, pigment, fabric and hair on wood support, which sold for $68,200.
Raymond Pettibon’s Untitled (A real man didn’t go into that profession to see how little he could swallow), 1987, ink on paper, placed at $49,600. Pettibon works in the sale totaled $183,954, doubling their high estimate.
Also in the top 10 of Postwar and Contemporary were Lot 738, Chuck Close, Lucas, 1993, woodcut with pochoir, $27,280; Lot 620, Andy Warhol, Paramount from Ads Porfolio, 1985, screenprint on Lenox Museum board, $22,320; Lot 610, Ida Rittenberg Kohlmeyer, Synthesis #23, 1981, mixed media on canvas, $19,840; Lot 759, Marilyn Minter, Swarv, 2005, C-print, $18,600; Lot 605, Qiu Deshu, two works of art: Untitled, mixed media on paper, $17,360; Lot 509, Nicholas Krushenick, Bread & Butter Series #1, 1962, acrylic and paper collage on paper, $16,120; Lot 734, William Joseph Anastasi, Untitled (Subway Drawing), 2001, ink on paper, $11,780;525, and Michael Corinne West, Narkisses, 1966, oil on canvas, $11,160.
Consignments are now being accepted for Rago’s May Fine Art auctions and all Rago’s Spring 2012 auctions: 609-397-9374 or email info@ragoarts.com.
Click here to view the fully illustrated catalog for this sale, complete with prices realized.
ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE
Evan Penny, ‘Self Portrait Stretched,’ $68,200. Image courtesy of Rago Arts and Auction Center. Leonard Tsugoharu Foujita, Untitled from ‘A Book of Cats,’ $33,480. Image courtesy of Rago Arts and Auction Center. James Abbot McNeill Whistler, ‘Little Black Dress,’ $27,280. Image courtesy of Rago Arts and Auction Center. Kees Verkade, ‘Total Balance,’ $27,280. Image courtesy of Rago Arts and Auction Center. William Langson Lathrop, ‘Indian Summer,’ $13,640. Image courtesy of Rago Arts and Auction Center. Raymond Pettibon, Untitled (A real man didn’t go…), $49,600. Image courtesy of Rago Arts and Auction Center. Chuck Close, ‘Lucas,’ $27,280. Image courtesy of Rago Arts and Auction Center. Andy Warhol, ‘Paramount’ from Ads Porfolio, $22,320. Image courtesy of Rago Arts and Auction Center.
